New Jersey Leads Immigration Fight
Posted Aug 25th 2007 2:56PM by Scott
http://news.aol.com/elections-blog/2007 ... ion-fight/

New Jersey is a deep blue state (John Kerry won by 7% in 2004 and Al Gore by almost 16% in 2000) where the political machine rules. Political bosses wield enormous power and those bosses are all Democrats. I wouldn't say New Jersey is liberal like, say, Manhattan. It's a state that is blue-collar, union and affluent at the same time, old school Democratic in other words.

That said, it's surprising that the attorney general of the Garden State passed down that the immigration status of those arrested will be established by the arresting officers:

It's just seven pages long. But Directive No. 2007-3 could fundamentally change the lives of New Jersey's immigrant population.

On Friday, civil rights and immigrant advocates expressed deep concerns about a mandate that police ask citizenship status of those arrested for indictable crimes, such as theft, rape and assault, along with drunken driving in New Jersey.

Many said they support the spirit behind state Attorney General Anne Milgram's decision to create a transparent statewide system for police handling of immigration status. They responded positively to a provision barring police from asking victims and witnesses about their status.

This is a reaction to the horrific execution deaths of three college-bound kids behind a school in Newark, a city not far from Manhattan. The alleged leader is a man named Jose Carranza, an illegal immigrant from Nicaragua.

The current mayor of Newark, Corey Booker refused to amend the city's rules to ask one's citizenship under heavy fire to do so, hence AG Millgram's actions. Newark remains a sanctuary city despite the fact that American citizens were gunned down by men who broke the law to get into the country. Simple fact, if immigration laws on the books were enforced, these promising young people would still be starting classes, instead, they are dead.

The AG's plan calls for checking the status only of those involved in "serious" crimes and drunken driving, checks for minor crimes are not included and the AG has made several key decisions on that. For the record, Carranza had a long rap sheet and would have been jailed and/or deported under the new plan.

The immigration battle is far from over and will be a major issue once Congress reconvenes. President Bush is adamant about getting the "shamnesty" bill passed and Republicans who favor securing the border and enforcing existing laws will have to fight even harder than they did on Bush's last, failed attempt.